Trenton school district's food service workers seek union recognition

Martin Griff/ The Times of TrentonWorkers clean tables in the Trenton High School cafeteria in a 2009 photo.

TRENTON — Privatized food service workers with the city's school district have joined forces with an international labor union in hopes of gaining recognition from their employer.

The workers saw their jobs outsourced to the Philadelphia-based Aramark as last year's school year began and, since then, some say they've seen their pay shrink, their workload increase, and their jobs robbed of dignity.

Employees, clad in purple T-shirts from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told the school board Monday that they were asking Aramark to recognize them as an official collective bargaining unit.

"Forming this union with my coworkers behind me is the only way we can protect ourselves and our livelihood," Aramark employee Kimberly Williams told the board.

Shirley Newell, who has done food service work in the district since 1993, said that at Trenton Central High School they saw their staff shrink last year from 15 down to six as they tried to feed between 600 and 750 students every day.

"To do that with six people, ... that's a lot to ask of a human being," she said. "Personally, I found myself sitting in my car for at least a half an hour at the end of the day before I could get myself together to drive home to my family. This is neither a healthy lifestyle nor an acceptable work environment."

As it struggled to close a budget deficit, the district privatized their food service workers after the 2009-2010 school year. The district was losing about $3 million a year through its food service operations prior to privatization. In a presentation to the board last year, company officials said they’d cut costs from $6.8 million to $3.7 million. Labor costs, meanwhile, fell from $3.7 million to $2.3 million.

Officials said Aramark currently has 121 employees in the district.

The workers are hoping to join SEIU Local 32BJ, which represents more than 120,000 service workers in eight states and Washington, D.C.

To gain recognition from Aramark, more than half of the district's food service workers must sign papers indicating their desire to join the union, a process known as a card check.

Matthew Myles, an organizer with SEIU, says Trenton's workers did that about a month ago, but have yet to hear anything from Aramark. If Aramark ignores the card check, Myles said, the workers will submit their paperwork to the National Labor Relations Board which can force the company to act.

"It is our preference that our employees deal directly with Aramark on issues concerning their employment rather than through third parties such as union," company spokeswoman Nicole Kennedy said. "However, for half a century Aramark has enjoyed excellent relationships with the unions that represent our employees."

School board president Toby Sanders said he supported the right of the workers to unionize.

"I do want folk that do some of the toughest work at the lowest wages to know that they have allies on this board," he said during Monday's meeting.